The Price of Wonderland
by SpritelyGryffindor
Summary: Every night agents from the league of shadows kidnap Artemis and force her to tell them about the team, and every night they wipe the memories from her mind.  One morning, Artemis wakes up to a living nightmare, that morning, she finds out she's the mole.


_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

My hand took a few more tries than normal to silence the alarm clock. I groaned and rolled over. My head was pounding, my throat was sore, and I had the distinct impression that I'd been crying recently.

_Weird, I haven't cried in my sleep in years._ I thought with a frown as I sat up slowly. My over-sized, green, t-shirt was crumpling around me—I did a double take.

_I don't remember putting this on last night. I wore a cami to bed right? I remember fiddling with the straps because one was twisted…or maybe that was yesterday._

I shook my head deciding that I must have been too tired to pay attention. What with the whole attack on the mountain, the mission simulation which resulted in annoying therapy sessions, and the whole Halloween thing with Zatanna, things had been pretty crazy.

I stretched as I got out of bed and looked at the poster above Jade's bed. It was the same as ever. Same Cheshire cat, same lost blonde. I remembered how my sister had always compared my track record for getting into trouble with Alice's, looking back on my past few weeks I have to agree. Lately thing haven't really been so…I hate to use this word but it totally fits…_Asterous._

I glanced at my clock and decided to get a move on before mom came in and started yelling at me for being late to school. I was surprised she hadn't already; the woman has always been up and dressed at the crack of dawn for as long as I can remember.

A sudden jolt of terror ran through me. I frowned in confusion, not knowing where the sudden feeling had come from, but I knew better than to ignore my instincts, so I grabbed my bow and arrow.

_If mom asks, I need to clean them, don't want her to think I'm getting paranoid._

The door opened noiselessly under my touch, and I was grateful for once that I'd picked up my dad's freaky habit of oiling the hinges all the time.

My eyes scanned the small apartment and I knew at once that something was wrong. I couldn't put my finger on it but something was really, really, wrong. My heart rate sped up, my awareness skyrocketed and I seemed to take in every detail of the living room. I saw a sliver of mom's wheelchair handles just beyond the archway that led to the kitchen.

"Mom?" I called.

There was no answer.

"Mom?" I called again, loudly.

Still nothing. My breath got stuck in my chest. A pressure was building inside of me and I was just so _scared. _ I knew that whatever I would find in that room would not be good, but still I moved forward. My mom was in there, and if there really was someone in the house, perhaps holding her at gunpoint (which is what was flashing through my mind) I had to get to her before anything happened.

I stepped closer and closer and, taking deep breaths and notching an arrow, I whipped around the corner and into the kitchen.

No one was there except mom, who was facing the stove. I could see her black haired head peeking over the top of her wheelchair.

I let out a breath and took the arrow from my bow. Walking around the wheel chair to face my mother I asked;

"Hey, mom, what—"

My bow and arrow clattered to the ground as my grip went slack. I couldn't even scream. My mouth was open, but the sound just wouldn't come out. My legs gave out from underneath me and I hit the ground, catching myself with my arms on reflex, puking my guts out. The violent action gave me the ability to breath again, and with that breath, I screamed. I screamed and screamed and screamed. Tears were running down my face and I was sobbing violently. My hands were over my face. I couldn't look, couldn't think.

"Help" I sobbed "Some-o-o-one P-p-please!"

I sobbed harder and drew in a breath, I screamed,

"HEEELPP! PLEASE SOMEONE HELP! CALL AN AMBULANCE, THE POLICE THE JUSTICE LEAGUE, SOMEONE, PLEASE JUST SAVE HER! PLEASE!" I cried some more.

_Artemis, help. You need to get help._ I told myself. I forced myself to crawl towards my bedroom. I stumbled and faltered but I somehow managed to get my com-link into my ear. I was shaking so much; it took a couple tries to activate it and call Green Arrow.

"_Hey Artemis what's up?" _asked Green Arrow, sounding curious.

"_A-A-Arrrow" I whimpered._

"_Artemis? Artemis what's wrong?" _He demanded, sounding shocked and a little freaked out.

I couldn't answer him, I just cried.

"_Artemis! Where are you?" _he demanded.

"_My-my house" _I whispered.

"_Stay put, I'm coming. In the mean time Artemis, you stay on the line! You hear me? Don't hang up!"_

I nodded, still crying. I was rocking back and forth, trying to tell myself that I hadn't just seen what I had definitely seen.

I don't remember how long I sat there. I didn't even register anything around me until I heard the sound of my front door being smashed in. Then Green Arrow was suddenly in my bedroom. He didn't hesitate to pull me into a hug.

"Shh, kid it's alright. I'm here; see? Just tell me what's wrong."

"Kitchen" was all I managed to say. That was all the info he needed though. He had dealt with enough hysterical civilians to be able to guess their meaning from only a word or two.

He let me go for a moment and went into the kitchen. I heard a loud swear and a female voice joined in. I found myself focusing on the voice, trying to figure out who else was talking.

"What's up? I heard one of the neighbors calling the police."

"Dinah, over here."

There was a feminine gasp of horror. There was silence then;

"You said someone called the police?"

"Yea" said the woman.

"Dinah, listen, go get her stuff. Everything that's related to her hero identity has to go. Get her bows, arrows, costume, laptop, cellphone. everything! Get it all, and get her out of here. I'll call Batman, he can do a cover story, she can't be investigated for this, if they even suspect her in the slightest they'll lock her up in a cell, and her old "colleagues" would be swarming her if that happened."

The next thing that I heard was footsteps, and I saw Black Canary walk into my room.

The woman was holding my bow and quiver. She gave me a quick hug before asking where my crime fighting stuff was. I remembered grabbing everything that I could think of that would cause trouble for me if the police found it. I was grateful for the rushed departure, it gave me something to do, something to focus on other than…

I remember Canary asking if the vomit in the kitchen was mine. I said it was and she told Green Arrow to fit that into the cover story somehow. After that we saw the flash of police lights. Dinah helped me slip down the fire escape without being seen and next thing I knew we were running, each holding a bag full of my hidden life. We moved quickly down several city blocks and into the alley that housed the transporter. I just let her push me into the zeta-tube and soon I appeared in Mt. Justice. I stood there dumbly until Canary appeared and pulled me through the hallways.

_This isn't real. It's just not real. It has to be another simulation, like the one where everyone thought I was dead, but I wasn't. This has to be like that, mom has to be alive, she has to be._

Canary led me into the conference room. My bag was taken from me and she tried to guide me into a chair. I batted her away and stood, pulling the objects out of where they had been stuffed roughly into the bags and organizing them meticulously. My mind was in shock, it was kind of nice, the numbness, the disbelief. I clung to it by blocking out what I'd just seen. I busied my shaking hands with things to do so that I could forget.

Canary was talking to me softly as she tried to put an arm around my shoulders.

I didn't say anything, I just pushed her arm away and dug out my laptop so I could put it in it's case.

I heard voices outside and the door opened.

"Hey, Conner heard you guys come in, what's going on?" asked M'gann as she peeked into the room; Conner was looking over her shoulder. She looked concerned when she saw me. I had stopped crying, but my eyes were probably puffy.

Black Canary looked at me and hesitated.

_She won't say anything._

"Artemis's mother was just murdered."

I stopped moving in the middle of placing an arrow in the quiver.

_She said it. How could she just say it?_

"Artemis," M'gann whispered.

Everyone was suddenly looking so sad…I couldn't take it. I couldn't watch them display the emotion that I was trying not to feel. I grabbed my bow and quiver and sprinted away, forcing myself through the door between Conner and M'gann.

"Artemis!" Canary called and I heard her start to run after me.

I snatched a flash-bomb tipped arrow from my quiver and aimed a sloppy shot behind me with my bow.

There was an explosion of light behind me and yells of surprise; I just kept running. When I got to the hanger I pressed the com-link that I'd put in my ear earlier and told Red Tornado to open the door.

He must not have heard about what happened yet, because he complied.

I ran across the grassy fields and into the cold. The wind toyed with my thin baggy shirt, and goose bumps rippled across my arms. I had forgotten to put on socks before I left my house and my shoes were starting to blister me but I didn't care. I didn't care about the concerned voice of Black Canary talking into my com-link either. I just ripped it from my ear and tossed it away.

I was in a cluster of trees now, entering a wood. Mud splattered my feet, cold and thick. I didn't realize I was crying until I felt the wind chill my wet face.

My hair was down and it rippled behind me. It snagged on tree branches and I felt little tugs as it ensnared small twigs in its golden claws while the more feeble locks were ripped away by savage pieces of wood. I came to a sudden stop when a branch caught a tight hold of my hair and jerked me back. I screamed in fury and whipped out an explosive arrow, disintegrating the branch that had a hold on me. I smelled singed hair, but paid it no mind. I was already reaching for another arrow.

I danced dangerously with the autumn leaves, throwing punches and kicks and arrows at every tree that dared to be standing next to me in this moment. I unleashed a rage that I hadn't freed since joining the team. I was wild, reckless, violent. I watched as corpses of the already-decaying trees I'd put out of their misery hit the ground and began to burn. I watched with satisfaction as smoke curled into the air.

I kept fighting, more and more wildly. I didn't want to waste my arrows, so I strung up rocks and shot them into the air. The few birds that had the gall to stay and watch me instead of flying off with the others, fled, squawking angrily. I sent more rocks after them, but missed on purpose.

There would be no orphaned crows today, just a motherless archer.

"Artemis!"

_Speaking of birds._

I whipped around and saw Robin hurrying over to me stepping over burning logs.

"We've been looking for you, I heard what happ—"

I swung my foot out to kick him, knowing he would dodge it.

I was right, and he jumped back, startled.

I charged at him full-speed and threw a punch, which he blocked.

I felt satisfaction at the challenge and plowed on, aiming a furious pummel of punches at him. He looked confused at first, and tried to reason with me, but I wouldn't listen.

He flipped up into a tree out of my reach and I screamed at him angrily, calling him a coward. He stared at me for a good minute before tilting his head to the side as if thinking about something. Then, he leapt off the tree branch and pounced on me.

The mood of the fight shifted. It was no longer crazed cat and passive mouse. We were going blow for blow, hard and fast. My hair blinded me as it fell around my face, but that just made me more vicious.

We started using weapons, nothing too deadly, just enough to cause mayhem in our surroundings. I ran out of non-lethal arrows, and went back to fist-fighting, but I was growing tired. Slowly the angry energy left me until I was throwing feeble, poorly formed, punches at him. I lost my balance after a very violent miss and hit the ground.

I moved to get up but my muscles wouldn't work like I wanted them to anymore. I just laid in the mud on my side, smelling decomposing leaves and charred wood. It was lucky it was so damp outside, or else I might've lit the whole forest on fire—thought the idea did seem appealing…

I heard leaves rustle next to me and I felt a shift behind me as Robin laid down next to me. He didn't hug me, or anything; he just sort of curled against my back like—like a freaking Labrador or something, he was just sort of—there.

"Better?" he asked as I caught my breath.

I thought about it for a moment and a wave of pain hit my heart.

"N-No," I admitted, shaking a little as I tried not to cry again. The anger left with my energy, leaving only sorrow

Robin placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I know how you feel."

"Do you?" I challenged dryly.

Robin was quiet for a moment, before he spoke.

"Yes. I do," he said. He sounded broken and the words seemed like they were painful for him to say.

I rolled over and sat up, facing him.

"How do you stand it?" I asked, squeezing the words from my vocal cords before my throat constricted with another sob. "How do you do it, how do you deal with it?" Tears ran down my face as I stood up restlessly and pulled at my hair.

"Time," said Robin sitting up. "Coffee too, since I stopped sleeping after…" he looked away. "It'll get better, things won't be the same, but they'll be okay again." He turned his face towards me again and said; "You need to work for it though, you need to keep going, it's what your mom would want."

I didn't say anything. I just buried my face in my knees and tried to control my crying. After a few minutes I felt like I could breathe again.

"Ready to go back to the cave?" asked Robin softly after a while.

"No," I said shaking my head firmly.

Robin sighed.

"M'gann just called me on the telepathic link. I told her and the others to go back to the cave when I found you, but Batman and Arrow are saying they need to debrief you. I know it's the last thing you want to do right now, but the best thing to do is get it out of the way while you still remember everything, and you won't have to spend too much time dreading telling them."

I sighed miserably and tried to find the inner will to stand up, I didn't need to though, because Robin was pulling me to my feet.

We walked alongside each other as we left the forest at a slow pace. I didn't have the energy to keep up my normal pace.

"So why are you here anyway? Did M'gann and Conner call you?" I asked bitterly.

"I overheard Batman talking to Green Arrow about something being wrong with you. He wouldn't tell me what the problem was, so I just came here after he left the Batcave. M'gann and Conner were telling Kaldur what happened when I came in. We called Kid Flash and he caught up with us as we were coming to look for you."

I felt angry that so many people were involved; I just wanted to be left alone.

"Great, just what I need, Kid Mouth running around and making things worse," I grumbled. It felt good to revert back to my rivalry with Wally; it gave me something else to think about.

"He's really worried," said Robin quietly.

I snorted, but Robin stopped and grabbed my arm.

"He _is,_ we all are, you're our friend. Don't try and tell me otherwise because I know for a fact that you'd be there for him if the roles were reversed, and I don't know you nearly as well as I know KF."

I looked over at him and nodded tiredly, not really feeling better, but a little bit comforted.

He patted my shoulder and we continued walking. I felt totally drained by the time we reached the hanger door, but I knew I still had a long day ahead of me.

_Here we go._ I thought grimly as the door opened as I braced myself to face the team.


End file.
